Ways and Means Committee

The briefing today for the Ways and Means Committee was Election Law.  We first heard from the State Board of Elections that they are moving forward as directed by the Legislature to procure a new optical scan voting system.  They will purchase 2,000 voting units and eventually an additional 2,000 ballot marking devices.  Presently we have 18,000 touch screen voting units.  Originally, it was assumed that the new voting system would be less expensive than the touch screen system to maintain; however, that will not be the case.

Next we heard from the Maryland Association of Counties which is asking that the conversion to the new optical scan voting system be delayed.  County governments are required to pay for half of the costs of the statewide voting system and related expenses.  The counties are suffering the same budget crunch that the State is experiencing and does not have the money for the new machines.  The counties feel that the present system is fully functional and effective.  There have been no major problems with the touch screen system.

The last presentation was by Save Our Votes an organization which is concerned about what will happen if the State needed to have a recount and had no paper ballots or verifiable method to count the votes.  They are concerned about the security vulnerabilities in touch screen voting.

These are weighty issues that we face.  No one wants to think that any vote was not counted.  By the way, this year voters may cast their votes at an Early Voting Center.  The Center for Charles County will be the Board of Elections’ office in La Plata.